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National Procrastination Week arrives

I should have alerted readers yesterday, but heck, I decided to put it off when I learned this is National Procrastination Week.

Putting things off — we’ve all been guilty of it. “I’ll do it later”. You don’t like doing the job at hand, the task seems too overwhelming, you’re a perfectionist, you don’t know where to begin, you are afraid of failing — there are lots of reasons for your old buddy, procrastination, to set in.

I should know – I’m the procrastination queen. And I was relieved to learn this is my very own week. In honor of the observance, I put off until next week getting my taxes together for my CPA.

Overcoming procrastination is less about developing will-power, and more about creating an environment that is conducive to completing the task at hand. You can’t make yourself do something you hate — but you can make yourself hate it a little bit less.

So let’s take a moment this month to look at some ways you can curb your tendency to procrastinate.

Some Practical Organizing Tips…

Break tasks into small pieces. Make a list of steps you will need to take to reach your goal. Then tackle one task at a time, until you’ve finished the list. It’s easier to motivate yourself to work on several small jobs rather than one huge task.

Start your day with the task that you procrastinate worston. Whatever you normally hate to do — clean the kitchen, work on your garden– get it out of the way first thing in the morning. Then the rest of the day is a breeze.

Cleaning out my closet has been on my to-do list since January 1. Do you think I’ve done it? It looks worse than ever.

I’m committing to spend just 15 minutesa day working on the task at hand – I’ll set my kitchen timer I’ll know when it’s over. You will be amazed at how much you can get done in 15 minutes — and you’ll probably work even longer on your project, once you get started.

But if that seems too annoying, just set the timer and go take a power nap.